God did his most deadly work to destroy hopelessness and
futility and provincial cowardice. He gave up his Son to torture
and death. A perfect life, a perfect death, and the decisive work
was done.

But there are millions who are numb to hope because of the
God-belittling things they have done and how ugly they have become.
They don’t lift lofty arguments against God’s Truth;
they shrug and feel irretrievably outside. They don’t defy
God consciously; they default to cake and television. Except for
the periodic rush of sex and sport and cinema, life yawns. There is
no passion for significance. For many, no passion at all.

There is a Christian version of this paralysis. The decision has
been made to trust Christ. The shoot of hope and joy has sprung up.
The long battle against sin has begun. But the defeats are many,
and the plant begins to wither. One sees only clouds and gathering
darkness. The problem is not perplexing doctrine or evolutionary
assaults or threats of persecution. The problem is falling down too
many times. Gradually the fatal feeling creeps in: the fight is
futile; it isn’t worth it.

Along with this hopelessness and futility, especially since
9/11, provincial cowardice captures many Christian minds. They fear
that it may sound conceited to call every people group in the world
to trust Christ or perish. It seems too global. Too sweeping. Too
universal. To say it takes their breath away. And, worse, it brings
down the wrath of the tolerant. What could be more arrogant than to
think that the infinite variety of need in all the cultural groups
of the world could be met by a single Savior!

It is astonishing that the Biblical gospel of justification by
faith alone answers these three human failures: the hopelessness of
unbelievers, the feeling of futility from falling down, and the
fear of making global claims for Christ.

To the numb and listless sinner, feeling beyond all hope of
godliness, the Bible says, "To the one who does not work but trusts
him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as
righteousness" (Romans 4:5). God justifies the "ungodly." This
truth is meant to break the back of hopelessness.

The connection between the sinner and the Savior is trust, not
improvement of behavior. That comes later. It’s this order
that gives hope. "For we hold that one is justified by
faith apart from works of the law" (Romans 3:28). The
basis of this wild and wonderful hope (the ungodly justified) is
"Christ for righteousness to everyone who believes" (Romans 10:4,
literal translation). Through faith alone God counts the ungodly as
righteous because of Christ. "For our sake [God] made [Christ] to
be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the
righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21). Let all who are
paralyzed by the weight of sin and the powerlessness to change turn
in here.

To the fallen saint, who knows the
darkness is self-inflicted and feels the futility of looking for
hope from a frowning Judge, the Bible gives a shocking example of
gutsy guilt. It pictures God’s failed prophet beneath a
righteous frown, bearing his chastisement with broken-hearted
boldness. "Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall
rise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me. I
will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against
him, until he pleads my cause and executes judgment for me. He will
bring me out to the light" (Micah 7:8-9). This is courageous
contrition. Gutsy guilt. The saint has fallen. The darkness of
God’s indignation is on him. He does not blow it off, but
waits. And he throws in the face of his accuser the confidence that
his indignant Judge will plead his cause and execute justice for
(not against) him. This is the application of justification to the
fallen saint. Broken-hearted, gutsy guilt.

For the squeamish fellow afraid of making global claims for
Christ, the biblical teaching on justification explodes his little
world. It says: the deepest problem to be solved is the same for
every human being, because every human is a descendant of Adam. And
the problem to be solved is that "by one man’s disobedience
many were made sinners." "One trespass led to condemnation for all
men." The only solution to this universal condemnation is a "second
Adam" who provides "the free gift of righteousness" to all who hear
the gospel and believe (Romans 5:17-19). Therefore Christ, the
second Adam, the giver of righteousness, is the only global
Savior.

Embrace as your treasure the gift of justification. There is no
part of your life where it is not immeasurably precious.